Keyshawn Johnson on his nephew, Michael Thomas: "I wish I could go back and be in his shoes at Ohio State."

On Thomas' team-high 12 catches in last year's spring game inflating expectations: "Those were lollipop grabs in a spring game. How could you have put any claim to that? The fact that he's playing in the [regular-season] games is more big-time to me. Hell, I didn't even play in the spring game. What means something is he's playing against Michigan, playing against Wisconsin, that's what means something to me. And when you're in the rotation as a true freshman, what more can you ask for? Those other guys that played in front of him, they were already in the program, they were already stronger than you, they understand the speed of the game, they understand what the coaches are asking, they had an understanding of college coaching. ... That doesn't make them better than you. It makes them ahead of you in classification, so they are going to play in front of you until you catch up."

On not meddling: "I don't talk to Urban Meyer. I don't get involved. I'm not the father, I'm the uncle, and my brother would never call the coach — 'Oh my God, why isn't he playing?' That's not how we operate."

Keyshawn Johnson also plans to be in Cincinnati to watch the spring game.